Australian equipment price insanity ?

[stjohn]

woah, the price on Novamusik looks really nice!
so what exactly would the downfalls of purchasing from the US be? does the apc40 have a voltage-switch? i guess if you ran into any problems, shipping costs would build up too...

[theque]

woah, the price on Novamusik looks really nice!
so what exactly would the downfalls of purchasing from the US be? does the apc40 have a voltage-switch? i guess if you ran into any problems, shipping costs would build up too...

they won't honor your warranty in Australia. i have asked a few companies here and the answer is always that the warranty is only valid in the country of purchase. bastards. often though you can purchase two of the same product for the same price as buying one here. thats as good as a warranty.

[Ben_Binary]

It has a wall-wart so power isnt a problem,
maybe AU$30 from an electronics shop or a AU$5 powerplug converter.

And

If you can sell the *broken* one for AU$193...
Then getting a second replacement APC40 would end up the same price as ONE here.

[nuperspective]

but mostly we just get gouged because until the internetz, we couldnt go anywhere else. People used to go on junkets to Hong Kong to buy their electronic stuff.

Exactly. Big business wants it both ways... cheap overseas labour to make their stuff, globalization FTW etc, but when it comes to the retail end of the stick they want to pretend like it's 1950 or something.

bought the komplete 5 deal @ 399USD - so that worked out at 500AUD.

Me too... and I can't believe NI had free shipping to Australia! I thought that must have been some mistake. And it arrived in 3 days!

i was in the same position when i bought my virus ti. had it all queued up at more than 2000AUD!!!! less if i imported it from the US. i was in my local store playing with one and when i told the guy what the price i had been offered he matched it there and then. so thats how much margin is on the stuff.

Chilling.

i forgot about the free shipping - what a deal.

now if only i could get UPS to understand i work during the day and im not home i could get the thing delivered and start playing. should be here by the weekend.

[Jacqueslacouth]

+1 for an order of Komplete from NI direct. The distributors in Aus are a bunch of thieving bastards. Their bullshit with warranty is even worse in the bush, if I try to negotiate a deal with a rural retailer asking if they can match a Sydney price, they simply say "nah mate, u do realise if their is a problem, you'll have to take it to Sydney. Authorized repairers seem to feel they only have to honour a warranty if they sell the item, which is quite frankly, BULLSHIT.

I for one have had a gut full of their grabby nature. I happily take my business overseas as I simply do not earn enough to prop up the fucking rip off business strategies of Australian companies. And lets face it, has anyone else noticed how fucking hard it is to get satisfaction under warranty in this country anyway. When I was up in Tamworth I found a great tech guy who often charged less than the cost of postage for a warranty claim and ALWAYS did a bang up job.

[lunabass]

even if you have to send an apc back to the states for warranty, it'll cost you $160aus return.
you could send it to the states and return twice and still come out $50 ahead than if you bought it here.